Beauty and the Beast: Hetalia
by kaigu
Summary: Matthew William's experience in a forgotten castle will change not only his life, but that of many others he knows and grows close to. I do not own Hetalia
1. Chapter 1

In a small town, people hustled and bustled about their day, everyone knew everybody. In town there was a sometimes forgotten boy named Matthew Williams. Matthew happened to be the brother of the crazy visionary of a hero Alfred F. Jones.

Matthew happened to be well liked by everyone in the town. He happened to catch the eyes of many people; one in particular was Ivan Borginski. Ivan was an insane man, who was well noticed and very popular. Ivan was a 'hunter' and a demanding man who was dead set on getting Matthew to add to his 'collection'. He took enjoyment out capturing people, for instance his lackey Toris happened to be his favorite captive.

Matt had been walking down the road of the town reading lightly as he went, his bear following him curiously. Ivan spotted Matt, a wicked smile coming onto his face. "Matthew," he said. Matt looked up at him and put his book down. "Who?" asked Matthew's bear, Kumajiro. Matthew sighed and turned to the bear, "Matthew, remember I take care of you." Turning his attention to Ivan and saying hello after reminding the short term memory polar bear of who he was.

"As I was saying I want you to come with me, to my house." Ivan said to Matt smoothly. Matt stared at him in response. "I'm sorry, I can't" he said glancing at Toris, who gave him a pleading look that said 'help me'.

"Well why not?" Ivan asked setting his hands on Matt's shoulders talking the book away and giving it to Toris

"Ivan, can I have my book back?" Matt asked hoping he would do as he was asked, for once in his life.

A smirk crept onto Ivan's face, "Well if you want it, come join me." he said. Smoothly Toris had opened the book up and looked at the pages, he seemed to be writing.

Matthew sighed "Really Ivan, I can't come with you, I have to go home." He said grabbing at the book (which Ivan had taken back from Toris) but was unsuccessful in getting it as Ivan had pulled the book back, causing Matt to loose his balance and fall into Ivan.

Ivan smirked, tossing the book to back to Toris. "Matty, if you wanted me so badly, you could have just asked. Yes?" he said grabbing him around the waist and holding him tighter to himself.

"Ivan let go of me!" Matt said, a blush spreading across his face. Matt tried to get away, this only succeeded in Ivan holding him tighter. Ivan laughed at the smaller man struggling in his arms and becoming more uncomfortable. "You wish to leave me this much?" Ivan asked, his eyes getting cold.

Matt nodded nervously. It was always bad when Ivan choose to have a mood swing.

Ivan's eyes when hard, he started to growl, "What could be so important that you would rather be there than with me, Kol Kol!??" He shouted.

As if in response there was a loud crash coming form the direction of Matt's house. The bang had successfully distracted Ivan allowing Matt to get away; Ivan noticed his leaving and grabbed his wrist.

"I have to go." Matt said

"For why? Your brother's hopeless." Ivan laughed. Matt glared at him ripping his wrist away from Ivan's grasp.

"My brother may not be smart all the time but he's not hopeless!" he shouted taking his book from Toris who had offered the book to him. Matt then made his way to his house in search for the band, her bear following him all the way.

"Alfred!" Matt called as he opened the door and looked around the house. The house looked as though a hurricane had come through it. Potted plants that had been inside lie broken on the floor of the house, chairs were toppled over. Matt followed the path of destruction through the house.

Coming to the back of the house Matt could hear shouting coming form the backyard. Kumajiro exited the house into the back using a cat flap. Following the bear, Matthew opened the back door of the house.

Matthew looked at the backyard, and was greeted by the sight of Alfred chasing a rabbit, and Kumajiro chasing Alfred. "Alfred what are you doing?" Matthew asked his brother, laughing at him. The sound of Matthew's voice brought Alfred to a halt, allowing the rabbit to get away, and Kumajiro to run into Alfred, which caused Matthew to laugh harder.

Alfred smiled and straightened up "Hey Matt!" he greeted happily, waving to his brother. A 'who' was heard in the background. Alfred made his way across the lawn to his brother.

"Al, why where you chasing that rabbit? And why is the house a mess?" Matthew asked his brother, when he was sure that Alfred was listening. The questions made Alfred's smile widen even further. "Isn't it obvious?" Alfred said proudly giving his brother a thumbs up. Matthew sighed "and how is tearing up our house being heroic?" he asked exasperated.

Alfred laughed and smiled even more (if that was possible). "Well Matt, it's simple really..." he said, beginning to tell his story. "I was sitting at home while you went to town" Alfred gestured to the house "and you had left, so I went to go get some food right, and I guess you didn't close the door tight or something... but no matter how, but _that_ rabbit" he pointed in the direction the rabbit had run "somehow _broke_ into our house! It was in the living room when I came back with my hamburgers and when it saw me it ran under the chair" he said animatedly "So I ate my burgers and tried to get it out of the house. First I tried to grab it from under the chair, but it ran away from me, so I looked for it again, and found it under the couch, so I tried to grab it again" he said, an annoyed look on his face "well I got sick of trying to catch it, so it decided to try and chase it out of the house, which is why all the furniture is knocked over..." Alfred said sheepishly concluding his tale with his hand behind his head smiling, and laughing nervously.

"Al, you killed my plant..." Matthew said sadly. Alfred looked at his brother "Matt, I'm really sorry. When the rabbit knocked over your plant, I knew that I had to get that rabbit!" He said vengefully, causing Matt to laugh at his brothers antics.

"So what did you do in town today?" Alfred asked changing the subject. Matt looked at his brother. "I went and got a new book" he said as the two entered the house. Matt picked back up the book that he had bought in town that day. Opening the book and glancing at the pages Matt noticed writing on one of the pages. "What's that?" Alfred asked pointing at the writing outside the text of the book.

Glancing at the note, Matthew discovered it was from Toris and it read: '_help me! Ivan has many plots to get you Matthew, can you tell Feliks where I am? He will help you_' Alfred had read the note over Matthews shoulder.

"So, Ivan huh?" He asked looking at Matthew suggestively.

"I don't like Ivan!" Matt retorted angrily a blush on his face thinking about the events earlier in the day.

"But Ivan likes you" Alfred said simply to his brother

"I know, and it's annoying" Matthew said looking out the window as he spoke

"So are we going to go look for Feliks?" Alfred asked his older brother curiously

Matthew looked at Alfred again. "I don't have much choice do I?" he replied. A look of determination appeared on Alfred's face.

"I'm coming with you," he shouted, his fist clenched. "It's my destiny, I'm gonna be a hero!" Alfred shouted happily.

Matt shook his head; smiling "fine you can come." he said looking at his brother who smiled at him. "Come on Al, let's go find Feliks." Matt said grabbing his jacket and Al followed him out of the house.


	2. Chapter 2

The pair made their way back into town in search for Feliks. Matt walked down the street looking into all the shops they passed. The sun had started to set by the time the two actually found Feliks-well, heard him.

"So I was like 'what the hell?' and he was like..." could be heard coming from the beer hall down the lane. Matt looked at Alfred, "Well we found them." Alfred said happily, Matt smiled nodding, "Yeah." He said in response.

Entering the beer hall, the two saw the blonde boy telling a story, shopping bags all around hi. Feliks looked up as he finished telling his take, he spotted the two and he waved them over to his table.

"Like what are you doing here?" he asked happily. Before either of them could answer, Feliks had started talking again. "I totally bought like the cutest outfit you have ever seen!" he said bragging and pulling something out of the many bags surrounding him. Feliks pulled out one piece of clothing after another, showing them off the Matt and Alfred proudly, "Like I totally bought this on sale, isn't it cool?" he asked them, showing off another wise ordinary shirt, (the rest of them were extremely flashy and extravagant.) Matt looked at the shirt, Alfred said what he was thinking though, "What's so cool about it?" he asked pulling over a waitress and ordering a burger and fries.

Feliks looked at Alfred as though he had just slapped him in the face. "Like you don't know what this shirt is?" he asked shocked "Like this is like totally the coolest shirt ever!" he shouted gesturing at the shirt again. "This shirt is glow in the dark, and lights up too!" He said proudly to the two brothers. When Feliks finished talking about his day of shopping and Al received his burger, Matt turned to Feliks again.

"Feliks, Toris is being held captive by Ivan, he wants you to try and get him out of there." Matt said to the man, seriously. Feliks looked at Matt

"Like are you serious?" he asked angrily. "That freak took my Leit?!" he shouted, standing up and pounding his fist on the table in anger, "My Leit!? Oh my gosh, he's gonna pay!" He shouted, his green eyes beaming with anger. Feliks threw curse after curse, his anger coming out in a rant. When he was done shouting he sat back down. "So like how am I gonna totally get my Leit back?" Feliks asked looking at the two pitifully.

Alfred looked at Matthew and then back at Feliks. "I'll go to Ivan's and get Toris back for you!" he said happily "I'll do it and then no one will say that I'm not a hero anymore!" he shouted standing up happily.

Feliks smiled up at Alfred "You'll like totally do that for me?" he asked surprised, "You can totally take my pony!" he said happily.

"Then tomorrow I'll head out and find where Ivan is keeping Toris!" Alfred said happily.

The two shook hands, Matthew looked at his brother as they walked home. "Alfred, I'd feel better if you took our horse to go look for Toris." Matt said to his brother.

"I was going to use Charlie anyway." Alfred said grabbing his brothers shoulders in a hug. Matt sighed in relief at the knowledge that Alfred was going to use a horse that they both could rely on.

"Relax brother of mine!" Alfred said as they arrived at home. Alfred had noticed that Matthew had been tense and worried about him, "I'm not going to get into any trouble!" he said confidently.

"You can't blame me for worrying about you, sometimes your reckless and don't think things through." Matt said voicing some of his concerns to his brother. "I don't want anything bad to happen to you!" Matt said looking at his brothers' matching blue eyes that were like his in almost every way.

"Nothing bad is going to happen to me." Alfred said again looking into his brothers eyes and holding his shoulders. "I won't do anything reckless so..." he broke off into a hug with his brother, he continued whispering into Matthews's ear "Don't worry, your my brother and I wont leave you" he said reassuringly.

"Thank you" Matthew said, pulling away form his brother, recomposing himself. "You be careful tomorrow" he added smiling.

The two went to bed that night in fair spirits. In the morning Matthew packed a bag of supplies for Alfred for his trip to find Toris. Alfred had gotten up and a few hours latter was gone, traveling on their horse Charlie into the woods in search for Ivan's home. Matt waved good-bye as his younger brother left and went out of sight.

(In the forest)

Alfred had set off a wile ago in search for Ivan's home, which seemed to be the hardest thing to find. Wandering deeper into the woods Alfred led Charlie into the lesser traveled part of the woods. Upon reaching a fork in the road Alfred pulled out his map.

"Charlie, we should go right" he said looking at his map, which did not have this part of the woods labeled on it.

Charlie tried to go down the left path but was stopped by Alfred.

"Come on Charlie, there's nothing down that path" Alfred said again and forced the horse to go down the darker path.

As Alfred traveled down the path, wolves where heard in the woods. "What was that?" he asked, no answer came. The growl was heard again, this time spooking Charlie who reared up and threw Alfred off of him.

Once Alfred was off the horse, Charlie ran in the opposite direction, as soon as the horse was gone, the wolves came out of the woods. Alfred tried to back out slowly away from the wolves, only to be noticed and the chase began. Alfred began running as fast as he could, the wolves biting at his heels all the way. As he ran, the sky opened and rain poured down on him soaking him. One of the wolves had jumped and latched its self onto his boot. Alfred screamed, and slipped his foot out of the shoe, noticing a large wrought iron gate a few feet away, he ran to it. Slipping into the gate, he closed it behind him, preventing the wolves form getting him. The rain kept pouring down on him harder and harder behind the gate.

Wandering further into the area inside the gate Alfred discovered a grand castle. Going up to the large doors, and knocked, and they opened on him. Entering the castle Alfred looked around. "Hello is anyone here?" he called, his echo reverberating off the walls of the seemingly empty house. "Is anyone there, I'm kinda lost, can anyone tell me where Ivan Borginski lives?" he called into the empty house again.

In the background two people were arguing in whispers, a tall blonde French man and a shorter ash blonde English man.

"Arthur, come o, what will it hurt? The man is soaked, no? He might get sick. Plus he is adorable, no?" The French man who at that moment had chosen to completely ignore him. Francis strode over to Alfred who was still calling and asking if any one was there.

"Bonjour Monsieur," he said startling Alfred, who jumped and turned to face the voice. "Hello, my name is Francis, I work at this castle." He said happily. When he paused, Alfred made to answer but wound up sneezing. "Are you feeling well?" Francis asked Alfred who shook his head in a negative fashion.

"I'm Alfred." He responded Francis guided Alfred to a sitting room and sat him in a chair in front of the fire. Arthur burst into the room shaking his head.

"No! He can't be here!" he shouted angrily, but quieted down when he saw that Alfred was in the room. Arthur composed himself. "Hello, my name is Arthur, I am the head of the castle." He said blushing.

As Alfred was warming up, there entered a small brunette with an odd curl in an apron and a hair bandana, "Hello, I'm Feliciano! Can I get you anything?" he asked cheerfully.

Just as soon as Feliciano had uttered those words, the door to the room burst open. The man who entered is an albino with a temper. "What is HE doing here?" he shouted. The whole room was now watching the man who entered the room.

Bravely Francis stood up, "This man was caught in the rain and needed a place to stay until the rain stops." He said, slightly nervous.

The man glared at Francis angrily. "Fine, you want to stay?! Fine! He'll stay! Up in the tower!" He shouted grabbing Alfred and dragging him into the tower and locking him in the room angrily.


	3. Chapter 3

Matthew had waved to Alfred as he left the yard wishing his brother luck. When he was out of sight Matthew turned and went back inside. Picking up the book he had bought in town earlier, Matthew started to read, but was interrupted moments latter by a knock on the front door. Sighing in frustration Matthew stood to answer the door, placing a book mark on the page he was reading before closing the book, and making his way to the door.

Opening the door Matt stood face to face with Ivan, who was smiling warmly at him from the front porch.

"Hello Matthew" Ivan greeted happily a smile on his pale face.

"Hello Ivan" Matthew replied politely. "What can I do for you?" he asked the taller man.

At this question Ivan's smile widened "Well Matthew, I'm glad you asked" he said pushing his way into the house past Matthew, who could not stop the man anyway. "I was thinking" Ivan continued on the other side of Matt. "You should come to my house sometime" he said smiling down at the smaller blonde.

"Ivan you know that I'm busy" Matthew said trying to get away form Ivan.

"Now Matt, you can't be _that_ busy _all_ the time" Ivan replied "Please! We'll have fun, you can come over and play with me!" He said with a childlike innocence on his face and in his eyes.

Matt looked at Ivan quizzically. "What kind of games Ivan?" he asked, Ivan had been known to 'play' some very wicked games.

"We could play outside!" Ivan said excitedly, smiling happily.

Looking at Ivan, Matt sighed. "Really, Ivan I can't, I need to wait for Alfred to get home" he said

"Matty please!" Ivan wined grabbing one of Matt's hands.

"No Ivan, I really cant, you need to leave" Matt said firmly ripping his hand out of Ivan's grasp.

At this Ivan's eyes went dark. "You will not be coming to play with me now, but we will play!" he said dangerously. With that he turned and left, slamming the door behind him as he left. Matthew watched form the house Ivan storm down the drive, to the road, and eventually out of sight.

Matt sighed looking at the room, and began to clean. The room was still a mess from the night before, the prospect of cleaning at the time seemed pointless to the pair that night, but now, the room bothered him to no end. He wound up cleaning up the whole room in his agitated state. Finishing his cleaning, Matthew headed outside into the front yard, fallowed closely by Kumajiro.

Outside he was greeted by the sight of Charlie running into the yard without Alfred. Matt ran over to Charlie "Where's Alfred?" he asked worriedly. Looking around the area, he saw no sign of Alfred. Matt was nervous, Alfred would not have let Charlie come home without him. Going into the house, he grabbed his jacked, turning to leave he closed the door, and went back into the yard.

Taking Kumajiro into his arms Matthew got onto the horse and went in search for his brother. The ride deep into the woods was long; Matthew kept his eyes open for any sign of Alfred as he went. As he went the surrounding got darker and more ominous, the sounds of wolves could be heard in the background constantly now.

Eventually Matthew spotted his brothers boot lying on the ground. "Al!" Matthew exclaimed dismounting his horse, setting Kumajiro on the ground, and going over to the boot. Picking up the boot, Matthew noticed the large gates a few feet away. Going over to the gates Matthew looked around the area, and opened the gates tentatively.

Entering through the gates Matt saw a large castle. "Come on Kumajiro" He said walking through the court yard. Kumajiro looked up to the sound of his name being called, and fallowed Matt up to the castle curiously. Reaching the large wooden front doors of the castle, Matthew knocked. He had no more then put his fist to the wood, when the door opened.

Cautiously Matthew entered the castles main room, and saw the halls were empty. "Hello?" he called his voice reverberating off the walls and high ceiling. When no response came he called again. Matthew then walked further into the castle, out of the corner of his eye, he saw movement, but continued his search for Alfred. Fallowing the main hall to an open door. The door lead up to an upward spiral staircase.

The stairs seemed to go on forever, but he made his way up to the main landing away for the labyrinth looking staircase. The main landing was barren and dust covered, it appeared at first that no one was in the room. Matthew turned to leave and search another room, when he heard a cough coming from a dark cell off to his left.

"Alfred?" He said looking in the direction of the noise. More movement could be heard

"Matthew?" Alfred asked from the cell's heavy bared door, where he looked out at his brother. Kneeling down Matthew saw his brother and gasped. Alfred looked sick, his blonde hair was wet, his cloths were ripped and muddy, his skin was pale and clammy, and his eyes had lost their sparkle.

"Al, what happened?" Matthew asked taking his brothers hand

"Never mind that, you need to get out of here, I'll be ok, you just need to leave now" Alfred said franticly as he looked around the room.

"Stop trying to be a hero! I need to get you out of there" Matt said looking at the lock on the door.

"Matt, the guy who owns this castle would flip if he found you here!" Alfred said quietly "You really need to go" he said again quietly.

Matthew looked at his brother exasperatedly and sighed and opened his mouth to say something, but was cut short by yelling form the stair well and Kumajiro running into the room shaking. Footsteps were heard thundering up the stairs, as shouting continued, becoming louder and easier to understand as it came closer.

"What do you mean there's another person here!?" the shouting voice continued as the door to the room ripped open. Matthew looked up and gasped, the man before him had shining red eyes that were glairing daggers at Matthew and Alfred. Stepping into the room the man made his way over to Matthew, menacingly standing over him, sneering.

"Who are you?" the man barked angrily, glairing at Alfred even more now. Looking back at Matthew, he continued quickly "How did you get in here?!" He shouted venom in his voice. Matthew stayed quiet and looked at the man looming over him. The silence seemed to make the man even angrier. The man leaned down and grabbed Matthew by the collar of his shirt, pulling him up to his own face.

"How did you get in here?" The man demanded his face inches away form Matthews. Matt's eyes were wide and he was momentarily speechless. The silence made he man even madder. He turned and looked at Alfred "Who is this?" he snarled.

Alfred looked at Matthew. "He's my brother" he said defiantly, standing up.

"Alfred, don't be a hero!" Matthew said.

Ignoring his brother Alfred continued. "Leave him alone, he didn't do anything to you, all he did was come here to make sure I was alright" Alfred said defiantly.

The bloodthirsty eyes that had been on Alfred during the speech were now barring into Matthew. "So you came to rescue my prisoner?" He asked angrily. Not giving Matthew the time to respond the man continued "You came here to be a hero and to gawk at me, did you?" he roared his eyes blazing.

Matt shook is head violently in a negative fashion. "No" he said trying to get away. The man shoved Matthew hard, forcing him into the wall. All Matthew wanted at that moment was to disappear into the wall. "Please let my brother go" he said meekly trying to make him self as small as possible.

"Let him go? What for?" he asked scoffing at the thought. He paused then looked at Matthew seriously. "If I let him go, you have to stay" he said smugly.

Matthew and Alfred both gasped. The man laughed.

"Matt! Don't do this!" Alfred pleaded to his older brother "Just let me stay here!" he said trying to convince Matthew.

"Al! Stop trying to be a hero!" Matt said for the umpteenth time that day. A determined look came onto his face as he looked at the man. "I will stay if you let him go" he said defiantly.

Laughing, the man dropped Matthew who fell to the floor. "Done!" he said triumphantly. Going over to the cell where Alfred was being kept, and opened it. "Get over here!" he barked at Alfred who scrambled over to the man.

"I will stay!" he said forcefully "Matt did nothing wrong!"

Matthew looked at his brother "You didn't either! So stop trying to save me!" He shouted at his younger brother "And if you must be a hero, go look for Toris and bring him back to Feliks!" he said sadly. With a sigh Matt went over to Alfred and hugged him.

The brothers embrace was broken by the man.

"KIRKLAND!" he shouted down the stair well as he grabbed Alfred's upper arm. A few moments latter the man named Arthur came up the stairs.

"Yes" He said to the angry man.

"Escort this man to town!" he shouted shoving Alfred towards Arthur. Stumbling, Alfred fell into Arthur. The two lye chest to chest; noses almost touching, both blushing furiously.

Arthur shoved Alfred off of him "Get off me you bloody git!" he shouted, his face extremely red. Both stood up and looked at anything but each other. "Come on" Arthur continued and made his way out of the room fallowed by a reluctant Alfred.

The room was silent for a wile. "You're going to say in a guest room" The man said demandingly. Matthew nodded, opening his mouth to say something, and then closed it.

The man glared at Matthew. "If you have something to say, say it!" he spat angrily.

"I'm sorry" Matt said apologetically, "I just wanted to know your name" he said apologizing again.

Sighing the man turned around "My name is Gilbert" he said off handedly and started to walk towards the stair well. Realizing that Matthew was not fallowing him he turned around.

"Do you want to stay up here?" Gilbert shouted

"No" Matthew said shaking his head and began fallowing Gilbert down the stairs and through the halls. Both were caught up in their own thoughts.

"You can go any where you want, well, except the East wing. " Gilbert said breaking the silence between the two.

Matt nodded "What's in the East wing?" he asked curiously.

"Nothing you need to worry about" Gilbert said venomously.

After the incident, Gilbert continued showing Matthew around the Castle and to his bedroom, which was in the West wing. Thanking Gilbert, Matthew entered the room. The room was cozy, there was a bed facing one wall with a desk, a vanity and closet were across from them, it also had a large window with a seat along the ledge, and bookshelves to the side. Matthew looked in the closet, which was filled with cloths that seemed like they would fit him.

Turning to face the man, Matthew found he was alone in the room. Sighing, he sat on the bed and looked around again. "Alfred, I hope you don't do anything rash, because this time I can't help you" he said sadly.


	4. Chapter 4

Arthur had escorted Alfred out of the castle, and the pair was making their way to town. Both were still flushed from their encounter in the castle earlier. Alfred to speak, breaking the silence.

"So uh, how did you start working for that guy?" he asked pointing back towards the castle.

Arthur looked at Alfred. "My brothers got me the job, they are friends with Gilbert and Ludwig" he said as they continued to walk. "I really didn't want the job..." he continued trailing off.

"Really?" Alfred said surprised "Then why did you take it?" he asked curiously looking at Arthur who sighed looking at the other man.

Shaking his head Arthur sighed again. "If you must know, I took this bloody job because the ruddy git's all wanted me out of the house." he said angrily. "They said I was to bossy, that this would be a good job for me, where I could order people around and get paid for it." he spat.

Fuming Arthur let out a frustrated noise; turning to Alfred he looked at him. "Would you mind coming to the pub with me or something, I need a drink." he said desperately.

Stopping Alfred looked at Arthur happily. "Sure I can! As soon as we get out of these woods" he said brightly. "Matt doesn't drink much, and most of the people where I live don't like me much drunk, they say I'm to much to handle at one time!" he laughed off handedly

"That makes two of us." Arthur said blushing. "My coworkers won't drink with me either" he said laughing "Like it stops me from doing it anyway..." he said with a depressed laugh.

Both men continued walking through the woods chatting lightly. As night fell they could see the lights of town through the dark woods fast approaching. Through the darkness there could be seen an eerie glow.

Alfred stopped dead in his tracks going pale. "Do you see that?" he asked Arthur pointing into the woods at the glowing light and slowly going behind the shorter man.

"What are you afraid of ghosts or something?" Arthur teased. Looking in the direction Alfred pointed, he saw the movement of the light. "I wonder if it's a good spirit or a bad spirit" he said calmly a slight smile on his face.

Alfred was slowly becoming more nervous. "B-bad spirit?" he said trying to sound brave, but his voice cracked.

Arthur's smile widened "Yeah, good spirits bring luck, and bad spirits cause havoc and fallow their victims for the rest of their lives" he said. Arthur looked back where the light was coming from. "Its not saying much, but it is coming closer." he said to himself.

Alfred's eyes were glued to the light that was slowly making its way towards the pair. "IT'S A GHOST! SAVE ME" he shouted hiding himself fully behind the shorted British man, holding onto his hand for dear life. As the figure appeared more clearly Alfred continued to shield himself behind Arthur. "Don't let it get me please!" he whimpered as it came closer into view.

"Like what are you doing Alfred? It's totally not cool to be hiding like that" The voice of Feliks came from in the bush.

"Feliks!" Alfred said relived. "What are you doing here at this time of night?" he asked standing up, but not letting go of Arthur's hand.

"Like I came out here to find one of my ponies, it ran away... "He said stomping his foot and then smiled. "And I totally wanted to see if this shirt really did glow in the dark" he said happily. "So like who's your friend? And what are you two doing out here?" He asked a knowing grin on his face, causing both Alfred and Arthur to blush.

Arthur just looked at Feliks "I am Arthur Kirkland" he said shortly.

Alfred continued "We were going to town, I had no idea Ivan didn't live in the woods!" he said gesturing to the woods behind him with his free hand.

Feliks rolled his eyes "Yeah, right "he said grinning at the way Alfred held onto Arthur. "So like those ponies aren't gonna find them selves, see you in town" he said noticing Arthur's face getting redder and redder. Leaving and waving Feliks left the area.

Arthur turned to Alfred when Feliks was out of sight "That was random" he said quietly. Looking down at the hand still entwined with his own he looked back at the taller man. "Will you get off me?" he asked ripping his hand away from Alfred's grasp and turning away.

Alfred smiled slightly "We should keep going, towns close" he said making his way past Arthur and continuing down the path.

*********************

Matthew had lost track of time sitting on the bed thinking of all he had just lost. A knock on the door broke him out of his thinking. "Come in" he called. The door opened, a small brunette boy who was smiling into the room. He was wearing an apron and bandana pulling back his hair, except a piece of hair in a curl sticking out form under the cloth.

"Hi, I'm Feliciano" he said coming further into the room.

A small smile appeared on Matthews face. "Hi, I'm Matthew" he said holding his hand out. Feliciano took it and the two shook hands.

"Can I get you anything?" Feliciano asked happily, a broad smile on his face. Matt shook his head in a negative fashion.

"There's nothing I want." he said causing the man's smile to fall a little.

"But I brought you pasta" he said anyway pulling out a plate from a try in the hall. "Or would you rather have tea?" he asked hopefully. Matthew finally gave in and accepted the cup of tea from Feliciano and started to drink it.

As Matthew finished his tea, there came a knock on the door. A deeper and stronger voice could be heard on the other side. "Liciano?" was being called. The Italian stood up happily.

"That's Ludwig, he's Gilbert's brother." he said excitedly. "Come in" he called happily.

A tall blonde haired blue eyes man came in the room. "My brother wants you to join him for dinner" he said to Matthew calmly. Feliciano had attached himself to Ludwig when he had entered the room.

"Dinner?" Matt asked confused.

Ludwig nodded "He has a temper, so I would go if I were you" he said seeing the look on Matthews's face that clearly stated he was not going to go.

"Why didn't he ask me to come to dinner himself?" he asked offended.

"I don't know why he didn't ask you himself, all I know is that I need an answer from you" he said sighing frustrated.

Matthew looked at the pair in front of him. "Tell Gilbert that if he wants to have dinner with me he has to come and ask me himself" Matthew said stubbornly, his arms crossed over his chest.

An angry and frustrated scream was heard from outside the door, making every one but Matthew flinch. "Please go to dinner" Feliciano pleaded breaking the silence.

Matthew shook his head. "Not unless _he_ asks me" he said flatly.

Pounding was heard on the door to Matthews's room at that moment. Ludwig went and answered the door. Gilbert stood in the door way. "Tell him that he will come to dinner!" he shouted.

Matthew looked at the albino man. "You'll get no where acting like that" he said glairing.

"Fine! Stay in there until you agree to eat with me!!!" he shouted slamming the door behind him, and silence was left in his wake.

Matt looked around the room at Ludwig and Feliciano. He could feel the emotions of the day finally coming to the surface. "Maybe staying strong is going to be harder than I thought..." he said disappointedly. Tears started to form in his eyes and fall as everyone left the room and he was left alone to cry himself to sleep.


End file.
